Wishing Makusha well

100m and a breathtaking 8.40m leap in the men’s long jump cannot go unnoticed.
The 24-year-old Zimbabwean has strongly presented the Zimbabwean story and firmly placed our beloved country on the pedestal of world sporting excellence.
The phenomenal feats that Ngoni has achieved go on to show that it takes a lifetime to achieve overnight success.
It has taken him a lot of patience, hard work, discipline and focus to reach the highest level any athlete would aspire to achieve.
That today a young boy who hails from the humble environs of Mandedza High School in Seke can be compared to such great American legends as Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens is as pleasantly unbelievable as it is proudly amazing.
The Zimbabwe Olympic Committee naturally received the news with rejuvenated hope and jubilation as the nation slowly turns into the home-run towards the Games of the XXX Olympiad to be hosted in London in 2012.
Makusha is one of the eight athletes that have been placed on an Olympic Solidarity Scholarship programme in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The other beneficiaries are Kirsty Coventry, Brian Dzingai, Marvin Bonde, Antony Hobwana, Cutbert Nyasango, Takanyi Garanganga and Mbonisi Ndimande.
A lot of lessons can be drawn from Ngonidzashe’s experience.
The first one is the need for appropriate structures to be set up for sport development within the Tertiary Institutions in Zimbabwe.
The structure of the Collegiate Games is formidable in the USA and other developed countries such that the sporting activities are highly supported by the corporate sector.
The other lesson is that there is merit in funding sports scholarships.
Regrettably a lot of our local corporates would rather cash in on the glory that comes along with success without really wanting to get their hands dirty in developing and refining the products.
Sadly most of our stakeholders are content with investing in airfares, winning bonuses and incentives, a rather chewing gum sort of approach, whose taste does not last beyond the tongue.
What is ideal is a more sustainable development focused investment which guarantees a conveyor belt syndrome that continuously churns out worldclass athletes.
Such an approach has far reaching positive implications in that once the athletes begin to earn out of the sport, they will in turn give back to their communities and in the process ease the burden on the corporate community.
The idea is to grow and develop the athletes by engendering the spirit of responsible excellence in which they will be able to look over their shoulders and feel obliged to return the favour that the community would have generously extended to them.
At the moment, a lot of our athletes have eked their own living and shaped their own destinies making it very unreasonable for society to expect them to give back.
The world is so full of classic cases of athletes that have rendered their service by giving back.
Kip Keino of Kenya, Frankie Fredericks of Namibia, George Weah of Liberia and Nwanko Kanu of Nigeria are notable names that come into one’s mind.
Very soon Ngonidzashe Makusha will be among such luminaries as he is already mooting pleasant ideas to inspire young budding athletes from him motherland.
The question is: how much have we done as a society for him to be where he is? How many people have been with him in the trenches to be worth joining him in the moment of glory?
Therefore, the decision by Makusha to go professional can be justified. Sport is a unique industry in that the product is highly perishable and exposed to very high risks among them being injury, a dip in form and the irresistible agony of aging. Any delayed decisions can have far reaching implications.
Once an athlete goes beyond their peak they not only diminish their value but lose prospects of landing lucrative sponsorship deals.
The biological clock is one unstoppable factor that brings diminishing returns to an athlete’s shelve value.
An athlete who is 24 years of age who is clocking under 10 seconds in 100m is more marketable and has very high prospects of landing lucrative deals that can totally transform his future. It therefore is understandable that Makusha has decided to turn professional. Admittedly this is not an easy decision neither is it easy to manage the challenges that comes along with turning professional.
The young man will require very good professional advice with regards carving a career to fall back on in case of adverse eventualities.
Brian Dzingai is one athlete that comes to mind within the circles of athletes with a career.
Not only has he achieved notable successes within the confines of the athletics lanes but he has also acquired a Masters in Business Administration in the process. He can compete with confidence knowing that he will be able to invest his earnings for a more sustainable future.
Makusha would therefore need to be advised to take a cue as he basks in the sun while the sunshine lasts.
Obviously not many companies will be interested in giving him a second look once age catches up with him or once his performances begin to dwindle to average due to age or any other such factors. It is similar to prudence in making investment decisions, the ability to know when to invest and when to divest.
It is the equal of marketing decisions where you have to comprehend the product life cycle and make decisions that guarantee you superior profitability.
One needs to know which strategies to use during the product’s introduction, growth, maturity and decline phases.
It is claimed that every product has a life period, it is launched, it grows, and at some point, may die. A fair comment is that – at least in the short-term – not all products or services die.
Jeans may die, but clothes probably will not. Legal services or medical services may die, but depending on the social and political climate, probably will not.
As such, athletes need to make appropriate decisions inorder to derive maximum value out of their efforts and attainment of their set objectives.
As an organisation we can only wish Makusha the best. Sport is indeed a transforming business and business is run professionally.
By going professional, our hope is that he will continue to be guided by the ethical values of respect, friendship and excellence.
He must also be advised fully on how to handle success and how to handle failure should he encounter such setbacks for he is bound to have more than a fair share of both in his prospective illustrious career ahead.
He projects himself very strongly as a formidable member of Team Zimbabwe to the London 2012 Olympic Games and we all hope that this will be his moment of glory, a chance to shine so the whole world will remain spellbound and illuminated by the irresistible Zimbabwean light!
Like the famous David Lloyd George said, “Don’t be afraid to take a big step. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps!”
Stanley Mutoya is the chief executive of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee.